Last week was out on the bike and as I was pushing hard my hr monitor started throwing out some random numbers, jumping from 177 (where it should have been I think) to 185 for a few seconds, then back down to 177, then up to 205 for a few seconds. I put it down to faulty readings, I've had odd peaks a few times before but not regularly.
Anyhow today I'm on zwift, keeping eye on hr (I was using a different one) and it never went over 175 On the zwift screen. Uploaded my ride and it's says max hr was 187...again body felt fine, no dizziness or feeling that anything was wrong.
So 2 rides on the trot where hr has shown as above max (max is 185), having only experienced this a few times before when I've uploaded rides. Both times however I felt fine, and the average hr for the rides has been bang on where I expected it to be.
Any thoughts? I have had both an ecg and echo in past 24 months, and there was nowt wrong with my heart back then. I'm assuming just dodgy data given the spikes appear to be for seconds at a time rather than for prolonged periods
Just ignore it, HR monitors aren't perfect and often read under / over for a few seconds.
Zwift used to have a rolling 3 sec filter on sensor inputs.
2 rides on the trot where hr has shown as above max (max is 185)
How do you know your max is 185? If that's a 220-age type calculation it's quite likely to be wrong. But anyway I'd be more inclined to blame the HR strap, as mentioned above they quite frequently throw out readings that are quite clearly incorrect. They're also less accurate at this time of year as you don't sweat as much, which makes the skin contact weaker.
Could be something as simple as dying batteries or poor contacts between the unit and the chest straps, or the chest strap connection to your chest.
Outside of HR strap accuracy (if you are using a watch it is highly likely inaccurate) if you have health issues and are worried prob worth speaking to Dr and getting them to recommend some Zwift training power / HR zones.
Not sure about kit you are using age etc but notice a lot of people I know on Zwift in their 40’s cranking zone 6/7 and doing HIIT. Conversely see younger pro’s spending more time in zone 2...
It’s come up a few times. I posted myself worried about max HR - was told by forum and most recent PT to ignore and focus on 20 min FTP power post ramp tests. That said if you have health issues may be better to stay away from ramp tests.
Fresh battery in a different hm monitor than the previous ride, so I doubt it's that. It may however just be coincidence that it's happened twice on the trot.
It clearly isn't an issue with my hr shooting up for any period of time otherwise you'd see it on the zwift readout.
Had a thought about how to find out if it's a data issue or not..
If I wear 2 chest straps at the same time, one connected to my garmin 810, and one connected to my garmin fenix, then assuming it's a data issue only one monitor will spike at any one time, as opposed to if it's a heart issue then they would both spike.
Would that work or would wearing 2 chest straps at same time cause signal interference?
If you're willing to spend the cash could you get an optical arm HR reader? A Wahoo TICKR FIT for example?
Probably not long enough to be concerned about, and yes probably just tech issues....but a few years ago I did have a few jumps to 230 or so which I dismissed as just a dodgy strap. Until I had a genuine Atrial Fibrillation. Just be aware really - there's nothing really that will be done anyway until you have long protracted (i.e. hours repeatedly) instances of it, at which point they may look at an ablation. I gave up booze (proven link and I think mine were mostly when hungover) which seems to have sorted me in the medium term.
Batteries, contacts, new HR monitor. Mine was throwing up 255+, new one resolved it. Which HR monitor?
Curious because mine was Garmin, found inside was rusty after new one, 2 years use.
That's a bit worrying branes. How long did those jumps to 230 last and was it noticeable?
Lukedwr - I've had it using 2 different monitors.. an old garmin, and a pretry new 4iii
This happened to me on various occasions 25 years ago. Turned out it was power cables, mostly overhead wires.
Well it happened again today on turbo. Was watching the garmin 810 like a hawk A couple of times the hr jumped up to far higher than it felt (once at start of ride when I was pootling, once at end when I was pushing hard)
I was however wearing a second chest strap, linked to my garmin fenix. And that one didn't jump at all. So max of 209 on the 810 with a 4iii strap, and 175 on the fenix with a garmin strap.
Assuming wearing 2 straps hasn't caused the spike (they seemed to track within one or 2 beats for all but a couple of seconds of spiking) and the fenix has similar sampling rate to the 810, it very much looks like it's a data issue.
The 4iii strap is pretty new so annoying it seems to be throwing out these random numbers.
It
Personally I’d get checked out. Similar thing happened to me 5yrs ago. Turns out I had atrial fibrillation.
Personally I’d get checked out. Similar thing happened to me 5yrs ago. Turns out I had atrial fibrillation
Well yeah thats a possibility , however why then would it only show on one monitor?
When it happened to you how long were the spikes for? Did it only happen when you were pushing here during exercise or at other times? Mine last a couple of seconds max but I don't have any symptoms.
If you’re willing to spend the cash could you get an optical arm HR reader? A Wahoo TICKR FIT for example?
Optical readers aren't supposed to be as accurate as electrical ones, they also have to use a lot of averaging which reduces their ability to pick up small peaks / troughs etc.
Hi - my AF seemed very random. Sometimes the spikes were very short (<5s), sometimes they lasted for hours. It mostly occurred during exercise but not exclusively.
It does sound like your issue is equipment focused but, if you're not certain, it's very quick to get checked out.
Re my HR jumps to 230, they were for 30s or so typically. Didn't 'feel' the first few, just found them later and dismissed them as technical probs, then felt one and saw it on the monitor. Got checked out after that - exercise ECG mainly - which didn't show anything chronic. About 9 months later had one for hours, so on to an echo which again showed nothing chronic.
Somewhat irrelevant as it seems yours is probably a technical issue, but worth bearing in mind for any future thread searchers.
May sound obvious, but have you taken your pulse while you're seeing suspect readings on the HRM? It was blindingly obvious when I had a bout of AF and it should be pretty easy to tell I'm your rate is say 170 or 200+
May sound obvious, but have you taken your pulse while you’re seeing suspect readings on the HRM? It was blindingly obvious when I had a bout of AF and it should be pretty easy to tell I’m your rate is say 170 or 200+
Yeah, one of the possible advantages of using an HR monitor regularly is that you do get used to how various HRs feel. My eventual long event (ie hrs rather than 30s) was, as you say, blindingly obvious. Apparently some people go years not realising.